2 Answers

Great question!
I will be answering the base question
'Do I have to be a product of my childhood?',

The answer to these questions is actually not a simple yes, or no. In fact the answer is both.

Your childhood experiences are a part of you, but since our experiences are subjective to us we can reevaluate (and almost reexperience) them from our current perspective. Often times the memories formed when we were younger as a result to some experience would be very different than the memories formed from the same experience if we experienced it now.

Now, if we are talking about a single experience as a tipping point you may be able to get in touch with those memories and emotions, and allow yourself to experience them from a new perspective. Often times this can lead to an great emotional release allowing yourself to be freed from whatever experience was weighing you down.
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I would be happy to expand, or focus on your question more specifically if you wanted to provide more detail.

ANSWER SUMMARY:
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If I had to answer the above question as it is written in a short sentence or two I would say:We are not as much a product of our childhood, but a product of our perception of our childhood... This is good because although we cannot change our childhood we can certainly change our perception of it!

Your answer is NO...Our lives turn out by the choices we make or don't make. Everyone will have something to overcome, whether a bad childhood or a trauma from something beyond our control. But how you choose to respond to it makes all the difference. Too many want to blame their current bad behavior on past influences. You can use your past as a crutch or a learning tool. Once you are grown you are responsible for your actions. If you still are clinging to what happened back then, then you have yet to grow up and do not realize how life works.